With so much to see and so little time at the Goodwood Festival of Speed – we have pulled out the top 5 highlights of must see cars at this year’s Goodwood Festival.
Firstly if you are a bike fan..
Barry Sheene’s 1976 world championship-winning XR14 – which has been restored with the help of Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme – will be ridden by his son Freddie at this year’s Sheene Festival at Oliver’s Mount on 22-23 July. You can see a video of the rebuild here
The bike, which carried Barry Sheene to victory in four Grands Prix in 1976, was recently restored by former Team Suzuki mechanics Martyn Orgborne and Nigel Everett. Freddie will ride the iconic machine in a special parade session during the weekend, while Steve Parrish will ride the 1977 XR14 that Barry also rode to world championship glory. There will also be a display of other bikes raced by Barry Sheene, and a collection of his leathers.
For Classic Racing history..
Beaulieu National Motor Museum’s 1950 BRM V16 Type 15, a landmark historic British racing car, will return to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed following a fundraising appeal to rebuild its supercharged engine.
Made possible by generous donations to the BRM Preservation Appeal, the essential rebuild of the BRM’s complex engine was boosted when the National Motor Museum Trust became the 2014 Goodwood Revival Beneficiary Charity. So it is only fitting that the car will make a return appearance at the home of the historic motor racing circuit.
After more than six decades, the BRM’s powerful but highly-strung engine was in desperate need of skilled restoration in order to keep it running for many more years to come. BRM expert Hall & Hall, of Bourne in Lincolnshire was the only choice to tackle the complicated and fastidious restoration of the engine. However, the work involved has become far greater than expected.
Beaulieu’s National Motor Museum Manager and Chief Engineer Doug Hill said: “When the engine was stripped down, it was found to be in far worse condition than was originally anticipated. As a result, the project has taken longer than expected.”
While the BRM will not run at Goodwood Festival of Speed, it will make a star appearance as part of Beaulieu’s display which includes running historic racers, the 1967 Lotus 49 and 1961 Honda RC162. The historic start-up of the BRM will be held at Beaulieu later this year.
For new car launches…
There are two iconic sports cars to look out for, Alpine, will be present at Goodwood Festival of Speed this year with the production-ready A110.
Ahead of going on sale in the UK in early 2018, the compact and agile two-seater A110 will be seen in motion for the very first time in this country when it will take to the hill as part of the legendary Supercar Run.
On display will be the very Alpine that won outright at the 1978 Le Mans 24 hour race, the triumphant Alpine A442 B. Running up the hill will be a member of Alpine’s victorious rallying heritage – the A310 – as part of the Touring Car, NASCAR, Drift & Rally group.
The presence of these cars, both past and present, underlines Alpine’s fascinating and glorious history as well as providing an insight into the future of the marque with the new A110.
Alfa Romeo will also debut the eagerly-anticipated Alfa Romeo Stelvio in the UK for the first time. The marque’s first SUV in its 107-year history will swap the Stelvio Pass for the famous 1.6 mile Goodwood Hillclimb for its inaugural UK dynamic first glance.
Having first been unveiled at the LA Auto Show, those attending the Festival of Speed will be lucky enough to witness the Stelvio’s distinctive Italian styling, thrilling performance and Q4 all-wheel drive at close quarters.
Unique Classic racing cars …
William Medcalf Vintage Bentley, will perform timed runs of the famous Hillclimb at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed in a unique 1936 Bentley single seater.
Wally Hassan was arguably the greatest Bentley mechanic of his generation; after the company was sold in 1932, Hassan was retained to work directly for Woolf Bernato on his personal cars. Barnato decided to build an 8 litre Bentley Brooklands outer circuit single seater (later to be known as the Barnato-Hassan). The purpose was to take the outright record at Brooklands. Bill Pacey approached Bernato and asked if his ‘mechanic’ could build him a 4 ½ litre version at the weekends.
As a result, the Pacey-Hassan was born, but with one unique design feature only later admitted by Hassan. When he built the engine, he fitted several compression plates to the block. For the 1936 season when the car was successful, fresh handicaps were applied which were known to be quite harsh.
Hassan would pull the engine down to make sure everything was at its best, and when he reassembled he would forget to fit all of the compression plates! The handicappers were astonished that the car remained so competitive for so long.
The practice of pulling the engine down and checking it had proved fruitful. Eventually when all the compression plates were exhausted, the car was no longer competitive in that form. Hassan then moved on to supercharging the engine for the 1937 season. The Pacey-Hassan achieved an ultimate lap of 129.03.
Post-war, the car was fitted with two-seated coachwork and by the 1970s it had been returned to its original form – it has been raced extensively and very successfully ever since.
The car is now looked after by the team at William Medcalf Vintage Bentley now reported to produce over 230bhp.
For the latest modern Racing car excitement…
The brand new Mahindra Racing Formula E car, which will not hit the tracks until the start of season four in December, will make its public, dynamic debut at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The car, also known as the M4Electro, will assault Goodwood’s famous 1.16-mile hillclimb in the prestigious timed batch of cars that will challenge for the fastest hill run of the event.
Behind the wheel will be Goodwood master and Mahindra driver, Nick Heidfeld, whose 1999 time of 41.60s – set in a McLaren MP4/13 Formula 1 car – remains the fastest ever run up the FoS hill.
Jota Sport have also just announced they are bringing both their LMP2 Jackie Chan DC Racing Cars to Goodwood. After narrowly missing out on overall victory in this years Le Mans 24hrs race the Tunbridge Wells based team had to settle for second and third place overall but 1st and 2nd in the LMP2 class. Both cars will be at Goodwood alongside the Porsche and Aston Martin works teams.
What us the latest on the ticket front?
Saturday and weekend tickets are now sold-out, with Thursday, Friday, and Sunday tickets selling fast. Hospitality packages are available throughout the weekend. To buy tickets or enquire about hospitality visit www.goodwood.com or call the Goodwood Ticket Office on 01243 755 055.
For Supercars – see the top cars to see from Tim Harvery and Amanda Stretton
For a full list of Hillclimb runners and riders click here
